Companies Standing Up to Trump on DEI
Companies like Costco and Levi’s are rejecting the White House’s positions on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
A federal agency that combats workplace bias is investigating Nike over its treatment of white employees, fulfilling a Trump administration promise to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion policies and make protecting white men from discrimination a priority.
The investigation is one of the first to be announced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which issued a call for discrimination complaints from white men in December.
The EEOC announced on Wednesday, February 4, that it has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Missouri seeking information related to allegations that Nike discriminates against white workers as part of its DEI program and the goals the company has set to increase the number of underrepresented workers in its ranks and leadership.
The agency said Nike may have engaged in “a pattern or practice of unequal treatment of white employees, applicants, and training program participants in hiring, promotion, demotion, or separation decisions, including layoff selections, internship programs, mentoring, leadership development, and other career development programs.”
In a statement to USA TODAY, Nike called the move “a surprising and unusual escalation.”
“We have participated extensively and in good faith in the EEOC’s investigations into our human resources practices, programs, and decisions and have made ongoing efforts to provide information and engage constructively with the authorities,” the company said. “We have shared thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses to the EEOC’s investigation and are in the process of providing additional information.”
Nike’s legal team previously said the subpoena was “overbroad, unduly burdensome, vague, ambiguous, and disproportionate to the needs of this investigation,” according to court filings.
Nike laid out a plan to build a more diverse workforce, tying a portion of its executive compensation to diversity goals such as increasing the percentage of women in leadership positions and increasing the percentage of racial minorities in the U.S. workforce to 30% at director level and above, and 35% to racial minorities.
First large-scale test of “illegal” DEI
In 2024, Andrea Lucas, now the head of the EEOC and then commissioner, filed a discrimination lawsuit against Nike for discriminating against white employees based on race. Nike fought the subpoena but only partially responded to requests for information, according to the federal agency’s court filings.
This research is consistent with President Trump’s view that the “illegal” and “woke” DEI practices that permeate American workplaces are creating new inequalities rather than balancing historical inequalities.
“Title VII’s prohibition on race-based employment discrimination is colorblind and requires the EEOC to protect employees of all races from illegal employment practices,” EEOC President Andrea Lucas said in a statement. “Thanks to President Trump’s commitment to enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws, the EEOC has renewed its focus on fair enforcement of Title VII.”
White workers make up about two-thirds of the U.S. workforce, but their discrimination claims account for only about 10% of race-based claims, according to data obtained by USA TODAY from the EEOC in 2023.
DEI advocates said the Trump administration will now have to prove in court what it has defended in the court of public opinion.
“The Trump administration has been very effective in its political and cultural war against DEI, framing it as a series of illegal perks that favor unqualified individuals,” said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Visioning at New York University School of Law. “It has not yet been shown whether the company will be able to substantiate its claims in court, and judges will still require rigorous evidence to be presented in accordance with accepted legal standards.”
EEOC becomes a powerful anti-DEI tool
The EEOC has emerged as a powerful tool for the Trump administration to roll back decades-old laws aimed at redressing racial inequities for Black workers and other marginalized groups.
When the president nominated Lucas to lead the EEOC, she promised to restore “equitable enforcement of employment and civil rights laws for all Americans,” including “racism and sex discrimination motivated by illegal DEI.”
“We intend to dispel the notion that only the ‘right kind’ of charging parties can walk through our gates and be welcomed,” Lucas said in a statement after taking office.
During his campaign, President Donald Trump campaigned against DEI as fostering “anti-white sentiment,” and on his first day back in the White House he moved to wipe out such efforts, including sweeping DEI from the federal government and military, threatening to strip billions of dollars in federal funding and university grants, and pressuring major corporations to scale back programs or risk losing federal contracts.
The broadside sent ripples across corporate America, accelerating efforts to reduce or eliminate DEI programs that could put companies in the president’s crosshairs. The rollback had a direct impact on the careers of Black Americans and the diversity of executive suites within large companies, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
The anti-DEI push has broad support within the Trump administration.
America First Legal, co-founded by White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, posted on social media disseminating dozens of discrimination complaints against top companies and urging more white people to come forward with legal claims. Legal advocacy groups filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Nike in 2024, alleging racial and gender discrimination against white men.
This story has been updated to add new information.
